By Leftwing Democrats just refuse to give up on some of their most radical ideas, and 2028 frontrunner Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is leading it. While much of her party edges toward tougher immigration enforcement ahead of the 2026 midterms, the New York congresswoman is once again calling for the complete abolition of Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Despite her own constituents begging her to help them with crime, in a recent campaign email, Ocasio-Cortez described ICE as a “rogue agency” that “must be dismantled”—a line that might have played well in 2018 but now cuts against the grain of where most voters, and many Democrats, are heading.
Her hardline stance puts her increasingly at odds with Democratic leadership, writes The Daily Caller.
Ocasio-Cortez, a rumored 2028 presidential candidate who is viewed as a rising leader in the Democratic Party, renewed her calls for the abolition of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in a campaign email published Monday evening. The socialist firebrand’s decision to commit to a viewpoint out of step with a majority of voters comes as many Democrats have sought to distance themselves from the “abolish ICE” bandwagon that some strategists believe has hurt the party’s brand.
“I believe that ICE, an agency that was just formed in 2003 during the Patriot Act era, is a rogue agency that should not exist,” an Ocasio-Cortez campaign email said Monday slamming critics that consider the far-left congresswoman “extreme.”
The New York Democrat, who called for the abolition of ICE during President Donald Trump’s first term, also posted content to social media earlier this year advising illegal migrants on how to evade ICE arrests.
Recent polling underscores how radical AOC has become. A recent New York Times/Ipsos poll found that “after the past four years of record immigration, much of it illegal, most Americans support mass deportations. In a recent Times-Ipsos poll, 55 percent of adults said they favored ‘deporting all immigrants who are here illegally.’ Dissatisfaction with the Biden administration’s relatively open immigration policies — especially among working-class voters, across races — helped Trump win the election.
[The] popularity helps explain why dozens of congressional Democrats joined Republicans this week to vote for the Laken Riley Act, which would require the deportation of undocumented immigrants charged with burglary, theft, assaulting a police officer or other crimes.”
House Majority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, also from New York, recently stressed the need for a “safe and strong” border, noted The Daily Caller.
Senator Ruben Gallego of Arizona—who co-sponsored the Trump-signed Laken Riley Act, dismissed left-wing activist groups as out of touch with Latino voters during an interview with The New York Times.
“Well, my thinking behind voting for it the second time, because I voted for it also in the House of Representatives, is that talking to voters — they wanted more immigration control and reform. What happened to Laken Riley was horrible. And look: These immigration groups have some very valid points in some areas. But where they’re moving is not necessarily in line with where the majority of voters or even the immigrant community are. I heard from them a lot, and the one thing I heard from them is: ‘This is not what Latinos want. They don’t want this bill.’ I’m like, ‘That’s actually not true. I go home, and there is a lot of support for bills like this.’”
Meanwhile, Republicans have seized the contrast. The National Republican Congressional Committee accused Democrats of letting Ocasio-Cortez dictate party policy, calling her agenda “extreme, unhinged, and deeply unpopular.” The congresswoman drew additional criticism earlier this year after posting social media tips for illegal immigrants on how to avoid ICE arrests—a move Republicans say encourages lawbreaking.
Still, the New York congresswoman remains a top choice for 2028. The Center Square recently reported that “U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., is a current front runner for the Democratic Party for the next presidential election.
Pollsters and pundits are buzzing about the progressive New Yorker as a potential candidate after a Yale survey showed Ocasio-Cortez with a 62% favorability rating. Yale’s undergraduate-led Spring 2025 Youth Poll surveyed 4,100 ‘self-reported registered voters,’ nearly half of which were aged 18-29.
Nate Silver, founder of polling aggregate and election forecaster FiveThirtyEight, predicted in a podcast with political podcaster Galen Druke that Ocasio-Cortez would be the Democratic Party’s 2028 presidential nominee, as reported by Fox News.”
With Bernie Sanders working overtime to hand off his campaign apparatus to her, the polls showed that Ocasio-Cortez has broad appeal across among Democrats.
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